1-dimensional and 2-dimensional distributed fiber-optic strain and stress sensors based on polarization maintaining fiber using distributed polarization crosstalk analyzer as an interrogator

ABSTRACT

Techniques and devices for measuring polarization crosstalk in polarization maintaining fiber by placing the PM fiber in a 1-dimensional or 2-dimensional configuration for sensing stress or strain exerted on the PM fiber at different locations along the fiber with a high spatial sensing resolution

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent document claims priority and benefits of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/061,094, filed on Oct. 7, 2014, and entitled“HIGH-RESOLUTION DISTRIBUTED FIBER-OPTIC STRAIN AND STRESS SENSORS BASEDON POLARIZATION MAINTAINING FIBER USING DISTRIBUTED POLARIZATIONCROSSTALK ANALYZER AS AN INTERROGATOR”, which is incorporated byreference as part of the disclosure of this patent document.

BACKGROUND

This patent document relates to devices, systems and techniques formeasuring stress or strain by using PM fiber based on polarization crosstalk.

Optical polarization is an important parameter of an optical signal invarious optical devices, systems and applications. The opticalpolarization of an optical signal can change or be altered byinteracting with an optical medium having optical birefringence in whichlight experiences different refractive indices at different opticalpolarizations. Fibers, for example, may be optically birefringent andlight propagating in such fibers can change its polarization. Thebirefringence of a fiber may change with time, often randomly with thefluctuations in the operating conditions such as stresses ortemperatures in the fiber.

Polarization maintaining (PM) fiber is an example of an opticalbirefringent material and exhibits high birefringence and supports twodiscrete polarization modes, HE^(Slow) ₁₁ and HE^(fast) ₁₁, that arealong mutually orthogonal slow and fast axes of the PM fiber. Therefractive index of the PM fiber for light polarized along the slow axisin the mode HE^(Slow) ₁₁ is higher than the refractive index of the PMfiber for light polarized along the fast axis in the mode HE^(fast) ₁₁.When the light coupled into the PM fiber is linearly polarized along theslow axis of the PM fiber, only HE^(Slow) ₁₁ mode is excited and theoptical polarization of the guided light is maintained along the slowaxis; conversely, when the light coupled into the PM fiber is linearlypolarized along the fast axis of the PM fiber, only HE^(fast) ₁₁ mode isexcited and the optical polarization of the guided light is maintainedalong the fast axis. This characteristics of preserving opticalpolarization in the PM fiber can be used in various applications, suchas fiber optic gyroscopes, integrated optics devices, high-performanceinterferometer and Polari metric sensors, quantum key distribution, andfiber lasers. Perturbations to PM fiber, such as stresses exerted on PMfiber, may cause optical coupling or crosstalk between the twoorthogonal polarization modes where optical energy of one polarizationmode transfers to optical energy of another polarization mode or viceversa.

An optical fiber tends to be subject to bending, forces or stresses inapplications. For example, fibers used for an optical network or fibercommunication link, such as International Telecommunication Unionrecommended ITU-T G.652 single-mode optical fiber and cable, wouldsuffer a fiber bend or stress loss which may adversely affect theperformance or reliability of the fiber. Such fiber bending or stresscould be measured various ways, including using a commercialmultiple-wavelength optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), e.g. at1310 nm or 1550 nm, to distinguish a bend loss from other types oflosses, e.g. broken, connection loss, etc., uses measured different bendlosses information at different wavelengths where usually a bend loss ishigher at a short wavelength than that of at a long wavelength.

SUMMARY

This document includes techniques and devices for measuring stress orstrain based on polarization crosstalk analysis in birefringence opticalbirefringent media including polarization maintaining fiber. Thedisclosed techniques and devices can be implemented to measurepolarization crosstalk distribution in polarization maintaining fiber byplacing the PM fiber in a 1-dimensional or 2-dimensional configurationfor sensing stress or strain exerted on the PM fiber at differentlocations along the fiber with a high spatial sensing resolution.

In one aspect, the disclosed technology includes a novel type ofdistributed fiber-optic strain sensors using polarization maintaining(PM) fiber as the sensing medium. It has the potential to realize bothadvantages of discrete sensors and distributed sensors. The disclosedsensors can be configured as distributed in 1D and 2D, able to coverlarge area of structures; second, it has very accurate measurement witha spatial resolution of 6 cm and a sensing range of more than 3 km,which is enabled by the technology of ghost-peak free distributedpolarization crosstalk analyzer (DPXA), commercially available fromGeneral Photonics Corporation.

In another aspect, an optical fiber sensor device is provided to includea sensor plate formed of a deformable or elastic material; a length ofpolarization maintaining (PM) fiber as a sensing element and engaged tothe sensor plate at multiple engaging locations; an optical light sourcethat produces probe light and is coupled to the PM fiber to deliver theprobe light into the PM fiber; and a detector module coupled to receiveprobe light from the PM fiber and to measure the received probe light todetermine a stress exerted on the sensor plate.

In another aspect, an optical fiber sensor device is provided to includea sensor plate configured to include a 1-demensional array of holes; alength of polarization maintaining (PM) fiber engaged to the sensorplate by being threaded through the holes to form sensing locations atthe holes; an optical light source that produces probe light and iscoupled to the PM fiber to deliver the probe light into the PM fiber;and a detector module coupled to receive probe light from the PM fiberand to measure the received probe light to determine a stress exerted onthe sensor plate.

In yet another aspect, an optical fiber sensor device is provided toinclude a sensor plate configured to include a groove in a 2-dimensionalpattern on one side; a length of polarization maintaining (PM) fiberengaged to the sensor plate by being placed in the groove to form a2-dimensional PM fiber sensing element; an optical light source thatproduces probe light and is coupled to the PM fiber to deliver the probelight into the PM fiber; and a detector module coupled to receive probelight from the PM fiber and to measure the received probe light todetermine a stress exerted on the sensor plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary device for measuring spatial distribution ofpolarization crosstalk in an optical birefringent medium (e.g., a PMfiber) by using an optical interferometer, where FIG. 1A shows thecomponents of the device, FIG. 1B illustrates the orientation of theoptical polarizer with respect to optical axes of the PM fiber and FIG.1C illustrates a situation where stresses are present at multiplelocations along the PM fiber to induce cross talk between the twoorthogonal polarization modes of the PM fiber.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary device for measuring polarization crosstalk inan optical birefringent medium (e.g., a PM fiber) by providing anoptical delay device between the PM fiber under test and the opticalinterferometer, where inserts further illustrate operation of thedevice.

FIG. 3 shows an example device for measuring polarization crosstalk inan optical birefringent medium based on applying a birefringentdispersion compensation function.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a process for obtaining the birefringentdispersion compensation function based on measuring spectral widths ofthe envelope spectral function of a polarization crosstalk peak at twoor more locations of the optical birefringent medium.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a process for measuring the polarizationcrosstalk in an optical birefringent medium such as PM fiber based onapplying a birefringent dispersion compensation function.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a polarization cross-talk curve of a PM fibercoil. The inserts show both the amplitude and width of cross-talkenvelopes at output and input connectors, as well as in the middleregion of the fiber before (solid line) and after (dotted line)birefringence dispersion compensation.

FIG. 7A shows exemplary measurements of the envelop widths of crosstalkpeaks induced by stress at various locations PM fiber samples by usingthe system in FIG. 3. FIG. 7B shows exemplary measured values dcrosstalk of the input connector with six different PM fiber lengths.

FIG. 8A through FIG. 11 show examples of 1-dimensional PM fiber sensors.

FIG. 12A through FIG. 16B show examples of 2-dimensional PM fibersensors.

FIGS. 17 and 18 show calibration setup and calibration of a PM fibersensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples for implementing techniques and devices in measuring stress orstrain based on polarization crosstalk between two polarization modes inan optical birefringent medium are provided based on opticalinterferometric measurements of PM fiber. The described techniques anddevices can be used to effectively suppress undesired spectralbroadening caused by optical birefringent dispersion in the PM fiber.One of the features in the disclosed technology is that broadband lightcan be used in the described techniques and devices to obtain spatiallyresolved distribution of stresses along the PM fiber by analyzingstress-induced polarization cross-coupling along the length of the PMfiber. High measurement sensitivity, a wide dynamic range, and highspatial measurement accuracy can be achieved by using the describedtechniques and devices.

Fiber optic strain sensors can be engineered to provide one or moreadvantages including, e.g., high precision, long-term stability, anddurability. In addition, fiber optic techniques allow for affordableinstrumentation of large areas of civil structures and infrastructureenabling global large-scale monitoring based on distributed sensors. Thedisclosed technology here includes a novel type of distributedfiber-optic strain sensors based on polarization maintaining (PM) fiberwith a desired spatial resolution (e.g., a spatial resolution of around6 cm), enabled by the ghost-peak free distributed polarization crosstalkanalyzer (DPXA) as an interrogator. A strain field over such sensors canlead to crosstalk change in the PM fiber deployed as the stress orstrain sensing element, which can be measured by the DPXA. As specificexamples, two categories of distributed sensors are disclosed:one-dimensional (1D) sensor strip and two-dimensional (2D) sensor panel,and two specific designs are presented for each category. Sample sensorswere tested by conducting tension experiments to quantify therelationship between crosstalk change and applied strain, which shows alinear positive correlation. The test results demonstrate that such 1Dor 2D distributed sensors based on PM fiber have the potential inlarge-scale structural health or integrity monitoring of variousstructures, including civil infrastructure, both in 1D and 2D,performing as an alternative of traditional fiber-optic strain sensors.

In implementations, an optical fiber sensor device for the disclosed 1Dsensor strips or 2D sensor panels can be configure to include a sensorplate formed of a deformable or elastic material, a length ofpolarization maintaining (PM) fiber as a sensing element and engaged tothe sensor plate at multiple engaging locations, an optical light sourcethat produces probe light and is coupled to the PM fiber to deliver theprobe light into the PM fiber, and a detector module coupled to receiveprobe light from the PM fiber and to measure the received probe light todetermine a stress exerted on the sensor plate. The engagement mechanismfor engaging the PM fiber to the sensor plate is designed to providemultiple engaging or contacting locations that divide the PM fiber intoPM fiber sections, either in a 1D linear configuration or in a 2D arrayconfiguration, for sensing the changes in the strain or stressdistribution at the PM fiber sections at different locations on a targetstructure such as a device, a building, a bridge or other items. Thesensor plate is formed of a deformable or elastic material to allow thesensor plate which is engaged to the target structure to deform with thetarget structure for the sensing operation.

One of the applications or uses of the disclosed technology is meetingthe needs for measuring stress or strain distributions in buildings andother large structures. The structural integrity and safety of buildingsand large structures are of a particular concern for various aging civilinfrastructures, such as sites identified by several institutions,including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Transportationand Research Board (TRB), and the National Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST). In 2004, approximately 150,000 U.S. bridges wereidentified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. TheAmerican Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimates that if the currentdeterioration trends for surface transportation infrastructure continue,annual costs on the U.S. economy will increase by 351%, i.e., to $520billion, by 2040 and will cost the national economy more than 400,000jobs. The collapse of the 135W Minneapolis Bridge is a representativeexample of the potentially catastrophic consequences: 13 lives lost and145 people injured; unavailability of the river crossing, leading toestimated economic losses of $60M; and rebuilding costs of approximately$234M. The budget allocated for maintenance and repair isdisproportionately small for appropriately addressing all the problemsof these deficient bridges. Thus reliable, low-cost, and easy-to-adoptstructural health monitoring is an immediate and urgent need in order toaccurately assess the state of bridges, improve the safety of thestructures, and set priorities for allocating funds for maintenance andrepair. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a process for providingaccurate and in-time information concerning structural health conditionand performance. SHM can be used to prevent the adverse social,economic, ecological, and aesthetic impacts that may occur in the caseof structural deficiency, and can be critical to the emergence ofsustainable civil and environmental engineering.

The sensors disclosed here can be configured as fiber optic strainsensors (FOSS) for SHM applications. Some examples of the advantages ofFOSS are high accuracy and long-term stability, durability, andinsensitivity to electromagnetic influences, corrosion and humidity.qualitative difference between the monitoring performed using discretesensors and distributed sensors is the following: discrete sensorsmonitor strain or average strain in discrete points, while thedistributed sensors are capable of one-dimensional (linear) strain fieldmonitoring. Distributed sensors can be installed along the whole lengthof structure. Since the sensor is sensitive at each point of its length,each cross-section of the structure is effectively instrumented.Discrete and distributed sensors each have their advantages andchallenges. Discrete sensors cover less area on the structure (and thusare less likely to directly detect damage), but they feature excellentaccuracy and long-term stability. On the other hand, distributed sensorscover large areas of structure, but their accuracy is at least an orderof magnitude worse than the accuracy of discrete sensors. Both types ofsensor allow successful development of monitoring methods for damagedetection and characterization (localization and quantification).

This application discloses implementations of a novel type ofdistributed fiber-optic strain sensors using polarization maintaining(PM) fiber as the sensing medium. The disclosed technology can beimplemented to achieve both advantages of discrete and distributedsensors. For example, the disclosed devices can be configured asdistributed 1D or 2D sensors, capable of covering a large spatial spanor area of structures; the disclosed devices can be used to provideaccurate measurements with a relatively high spatial resolution (e.g., 6cm in some configurations) and a relatively large sensing range (e.g.,more than 3 km in some configurations), which is enabled by a ghost-peakfree distributed polarization crosstalk measurement technology developedby General Photonics Corporation.

Various features of techniques and devices or systems for measuring thestress or strain distribution in a PM fiber based on opticalinterferometric measurements of the PM fiber are related to thetechnique and devices disclosed in this document and can be found inU.S. Pat. No. 8,599,385 entitled “MEASURING DISTRIBUTED POLARIZATIONCROSSTALK IN POLARIZATION MAINTAINING FIBER AND OPTICAL BIREFRINGENTMATERIAL” and assigned to General Photonics Corporation, and U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. US2013/0321818 A1 of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/482,813 entitled “MEASURING POLARIZATION CROSSTALK INOPTICAL BIREFRINGENT MATERIALS AND DEVICES BASED ON REDUCTION OF LINEBROADENING CAUSED BY BIREFRINGENT DISPERSION” and assigned to GeneralPhotonics Corporation. The entire disclosures of the above two patentdocuments are incorporated by reference as part of this patent document.

In a PM fiber, when the launched light is perfectly aligned along slowor fast axis at the input of the PM fiber, the optical coupling betweenthe two polarization modes in the PM fiber occurs because intrinsicdefects exist in the PM fiber or/and external stresses exerted on the PMfiber. The mode coupling between the slow axis and fast axis of the PMfiber can be characterized with polarization crosstalk. One way torepresent the polarization crosstalk is the light intensity ratiobetween the light in the two polarization modes with opticalpolarizations along the slow and fast axes, respectively. In practicalapplications, it is desirable to identify the position of thepolarization crosstalk in the PM fiber and to measure the degree of thepolarization crosstalk. For example, in some fiber optic gyroscopesapplications, the polarization crosstalk measurements can be used toscreen the PM fiber before winding PM coil and to control crosstalkdegradation during coil winding and to diagnose the PM coil problemafter winding. The PM fiber can be used as an optical sensing medium andthe polarization crosstalk can be used as a sensing mechanism. Forexample, the polarization crosstalk measurements can be used to obtainthe stress distribution along the PM fiber and monitor space-resolvedstructural changes along bridges, tunnels, dams, pipeline or pipes fortransporting a liquid (e.g., oil) or a gas (e.g., natural gas), orbuildings. The polarization crosstalk measurements can also be used todetect an intrusion to a PM fiber link because mechanical disturbancesto the PM fiber introduced by the intrusion causes polarization couplingin the PM fiber. The polarization crosstalk measurements can be used forPM fiber quality inspection by identifying defective sections of PMfiber where the crosstalk occurs, enabling the manufacturers or users toremove the defective fiber sections or take preventive measures tomitigate the impact of such defects. The polarization crosstalkmeasurements can also be used for measuring high polarization extinctionratios of a polarizing waveguide, obtaining the autocorrelation functionof a light source, measuring the birefringence of a PM fiber and thelengths of PM fibers and single-mode (SM) fibers, and matching theoptical path lengths of an interferometer.

Optical interference between light waves along the slow and fast axes ofthe PM fiber can generate real optical interference signals generated atthe cross coupling locations in the PM fiber and ghost interferencesignals caused by the multiple coupling of light wave among multiplecrosstalk points. The ghost signals can be strong when there are severalstrong coupling points on PM fiber, and thus result in wrongidentification of crosstalk position and amplitude.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary device 100 for measuring spatial distributionof polarization crosstalk along a PM fiber by using an opticalinterferometer, where FIG. 1A shows components of the device, FIG. 1Billustrates the orientation of the optical polarizer with respect tooptical axes of the PM fiber and FIG. 1C illustrates a situation wherestresses are present at multiple locations along the PM fiber to inducecross talk between the two orthogonal polarization modes of the PMfiber.

In this example, a broadband light (101) from a broadband light sourceis directed into the PM fiber at position A (110). The light (101) hasone polarization component aligned to the slow axis of the PM fiber.Stress at position B induces polarization coupling between the twoorthogonal polarizations along the fast and slow axes of the PM fiberand produces a polarization component aligned to the fast axis. Becausethe two polarization components travel at different group velocities inthe PM fiber, the two polarization components experience a delaydifference at the output (111) of the fiber (position C):

Δz=n _(s) z−n _(f) z=Δnz  (1)

where n_(s) and n_(f) are the refractive indices of the slow and fastaxes, respectively, the difference between the two refractive indices Δnis the birefringence, and z is the distance between the coupling point Band the output point C. If an optical polarizer (120) with its opticalpolarization axis oriented at 45 degrees from the slow axis (FIG. 1B) isplaced after the fiber output (111), one half of the optical power ineach of the two polarization components passes through the polarizer(120) and emerges with the same polarization state which is linear,aligned to the polarizer axis of the polarizer (120).

Therefore, when an optical interferometer is used to receive the outputlight from the polarizer (120), the presence of the polarizer (120) cancause the received light, which includes two polarization componentsthat are respectively in the two polarization modes in the PM fiber, tooptically interfere. This optical interference can then be used toperform the polarization crosstalk measurements.

In FIG. 1, a Michelson interferometer is shown as an example forimplementing the optical interferometer. A beam splitter 130 is providedto receive the output light from the polarizer 120 and splits thereceived light into a first beam along a first optical path 142 to afixed mirror 140 and a second beam along a second optical path 143 to amovable mirror 141. An actuator is engaged to the movable mirror 141 tomove the position of the movable mirror 141 to adjust the optical pathlength of the second optical path 143 relative to the first optical path142. The two mirrors 140 and 144 reflect the two beams back to retracethe first and second optical paths to reach the beam splitter 130. Thereflected beams from the two mirrors 140 and 141 spatially overlap witheach other at the beam splitter 130 and optically interfere to producethe optical output 132 which contains the optical interference signalwhich has periodic interference peaks as the mirror 141 is moved inposition. The distance associated with the movement of the mirror 141between the two adjacent interference peaks in the optical interferencesignal is Δnz and, accordingly, from Eq. (1), the location of thecoupling point in the PM fiber is z=Δz/Δn. The coupling point cantherefore be located using the interference graph. The coupling ratiocan also be calculated from the strength of the interference peaks.

FIG. 1C illustrates presence of multiple coupling points in the PMfiber. Under this condition, the measurement process is morecomplicated. Assuming there are (n+1) coupling points (x₀ x₁ x₂ . . .x_(n)) in the PM fiber, a linearly-polarized input wave packet (112)along the slow axis splits to 2^(n) small wave packets along the slowaxis and 2^(n) small wave packets along the fast axis at the output endof PM fiber (113). Therefore, after the ith coupling point, the two wavepackets sequences P_(si) and P_(fi) polarized along the slow axis andfast axis respectively include 2^(i) wave packets in each sequence andtheir optical paths length can be described as

$\begin{matrix}{P_{s_{i}} = {{\begin{pmatrix}P_{s_{i},1} \\P_{s_{i},2} \\\vdots \\P_{s_{i},j} \\\vdots \\P_{s_{i},2^{i}}\end{pmatrix}\mspace{31mu} P_{f_{i}}} = \begin{pmatrix}P_{f_{i},1} \\P_{f_{i},1} \\\vdots \\P_{f_{i},j} \\\vdots \\P_{f_{i},2^{i}}\end{pmatrix}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where P_(si,j)(j=1 to 2^(i)) and P_(fi,j(j−1 to 2) ^(i)) represent theoptical patch lengths of the jth wave packet in sequences P_(si) andP_(fi), respectively. The optical path length of the wave packetsequences after the (i+1)th coupling point can be calculated by

$\begin{matrix}{{P_{s_{i + 1}} = {P_{f_{i + 1}} = \begin{pmatrix}{{\left( {x_{i + 1} - x_{i}} \right)n_{s}} + P_{s_{i}1}} \\{{\left( {x_{i + 1} - x_{i}} \right)n_{s}} + P_{s_{i}2}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{i + 1} - x_{i}} \right)n_{s}} + P_{{si},2^{i}}} \\{{\left( {x_{i + 1} - x_{i}} \right)n_{f}} + P_{f_{i}1}} \\{{\left( {x_{i + 1} - x_{i}} \right)n_{f}} + P_{f_{i}2}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{i + 1} - x_{i}} \right)n_{f}} + P_{{fi},2^{i}}}\end{pmatrix}}},} & (3)\end{matrix}$

Based on formula (3), the optical path length of the wave packet atoutput of PM fiber can be obtained by

$\begin{matrix}{P_{sn} = {P_{fn} = {\begin{pmatrix}{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + {Ps}_{{n - 1},1}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + {Ps}_{n - {1_{i}2}}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + P_{{{si} - 1},2^{n - 1}}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{n - {1_{i}1}}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{n - {1_{i}2}}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}}\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}{\left( {x_{n} - x_{0}} \right)n_{s}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + {Ps}_{{n - 1},2}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{i} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + {Ps}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{n - {1_{i}1}}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{{n - 1},2}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{{n - 1},{2^{n - 1} - 1}}} \\{\left( {x_{n} - x_{0}} \right)n_{f}}\end{pmatrix}}}} & (4)\end{matrix}$

and the corresponding intensity I_(sn) and I_(fn) of wave packetsequences P_(sn) and P_(fn) can be calculated by the following formulae:

$\begin{matrix}{{Is}_{n} = {{\frac{{Is}_{n - 1}}{1 + C_{n}} \oplus {\frac{c_{n}}{1 + c_{n}}{If}_{n - 1}}} = {\begin{pmatrix}{{Is}_{{n - 1},1}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\\vdots \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2^{i - 1}}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},1}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},3}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\\vdots \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}}\end{pmatrix} \approx \begin{pmatrix}{{Is}_{{n - 1},1}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\\vdots \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2^{i - 1}}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\0 \\0 \\0 \\\vdots \\0\end{pmatrix}}}} & (5) \\{{If}_{n} = {{{\frac{c_{n}}{1 + C_{n}}{Is}_{n - 1}} \oplus {\frac{1}{1 + c_{n}}{If}_{n - 1}}} = {\begin{pmatrix}{{Is}_{{n - 1},1}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},3}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\\vdots \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2^{i - 1}}*{c_{n}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},1}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\\vdots \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}\end{pmatrix} \approx \begin{pmatrix}0 \\0 \\0 \\\vdots \\0 \\{{If}_{{n - 1},1}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\\vdots \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}\end{pmatrix}}}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

where c_(n) is the coupling coefficients at point xn, and can be used torepresent a crosstalk parameter defined by Crosstalk=abs(10*log c_(n)).

After passing through the 45° aligned polarizer (120), the two wavepacket sequences P_(sn) and P_(fn), originally polarized along the slowaxis and fast axis in the PM fiber, will be the mixed into one wavepacket sequence polarized along transmission direction of the polarizer(120). The optical path length P and the corresponding optical intensityof the wave packet sequence polarized along transmission direction ofthe polarizer (120) can be calculated as

$\begin{matrix}{P = {\begin{pmatrix}{p\; 1} \\{p\; 2} \\{p\; 3} \\\vdots \\\vdots \\\vdots \\\vdots \\\vdots \\p_{2^{n}}\end{pmatrix} = {\begin{pmatrix}{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + {Ps}_{{n - 1},2}} \\\vdots \\\underset{\_}{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{s}} + {Ps}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{n - {1_{i}1}}} \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{{n - 1},2}} \\\vdots \\{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)n_{f}} + {Pf}_{{n - 1},{2^{n - 1} - 1}}} \\{\left( {x_{n} - x_{0}} \right)n_{f}}\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}P_{s_{n - 1}} \\P_{f_{n -^{1}}}\end{pmatrix}}}} & (7) \\{{I \approx \begin{pmatrix}{{Is}_{{n - 1},1}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},2}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{Is}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\\vdots \\\underset{\_}{{Is}_{{n - 1},2^{i - 1}}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},1}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\{{If}_{{n - 1},3}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)} \\\vdots \\{{If}_{{n - 1},2^{n - 1}}/\left( {1 + c_{n}} \right)}\end{pmatrix}} = \begin{pmatrix}{Is}_{n - 1} \\{If}_{n - 1}\end{pmatrix}} & (8)\end{matrix}$

As the mirror 141 moves to change its position in the second opticalpath, any two pulses in wave packet sequence P (see formula 7) cangenerate an interference signal and the position of interference patternis determined by the delay difference between these two pulses. Thereare total 2^(n)*(2^(n)−1)/2 peaks that are generated in which there aren interference peaks representing the actual coupling points and therest of the interference peaks are ghosts peaks. These ghost peaks notonly generate fake coupling signals, but also can possibly producecompositions at the true interference peaks associated with the truecoupling locations. Therefore, the presence of the ghost peaks degradesthe measurement accuracy in measuring the crosstalk distribution andamplitude.

Formulae (7) and (8) show that, the wave packet sequence has two groups,one represented by the top half of Formula (7) and comes from Psn⁻¹polarized along the slow-axis when in the PM fiber, and another isrepresented by the bottom half of Formula (7) and comes from Pf_(n-1)polarized along the fast axis when in the PM fiber. The positions ofinterference patterns between any two pulses in the group Ps_(n-1) havenothing to do with the length of the last PM segment (x_(n)−x_(n-1)),and their delay difference are all shorter than the (x_(n-1)−x0)*Δn. Thepositions of interference patterns between any two pulses in the groupPf_(n-1) also has nothing to do with the length of last PM segment(x_(n)-x_(n-1)), and their delay difference are all less than the(x_(n-1)−x0)*Δn. For the interference between top and bottom half ofwave packet P, the delay difference between any one wave packets fromgroup of Ps_(n-1) and Pf_(n-1), respectively, is(x_(n)-x_(n-1)Δn+(Ps_(n-1, j)−Pf_(n-1, k)). If the length of the last PMsegment x_(n)−x_(n-1) is longer than the length of the total length(x_(n-1)−x₀) of the PM segments from 0 to n−1, the interference peakswill split into two groups at position. One group is generated by theinterference between any two wave packets in sequence P_(Sn−1) orP_(sf−1); another group is generated by the interference between onewave packet in sequence Psn−1 and one in P_(sf−1) respectively. A highvalue for the extinction ratio (ER) of a PM fiber link generallysuggests that the coupling coefficients of c1, c2 . . . ci in the PMfiber link are very small so the pulse P1 in formula (7) has arelatively high power. If the wave packets generated by over two timescoupling and over three order's interference are ignored, there are onlyn interference signals in the second interference group and thecorresponding delay difference between the first optical path 142 as thereference arm of the optical interferometer (in FIG. 1A) and the secondoptical path 143 as the changing arm of the optical interferometer are:

$\begin{matrix}{{\left( {x_{n} - x_{n - 1}} \right)\Delta \; n} + \begin{pmatrix}0 \\{\left( {x_{n - 1} - x_{n - 2}} \right)\Delta \; n} \\{\left( {x_{n - 1} - x_{n - 3}} \right)\Delta \; n} \\\vdots \\\vdots \\{\left( {x_{n - 1} - x_{0}} \right)\Delta \; n}\end{pmatrix}} & (9)\end{matrix}$

which corresponds to the coupling points from 0 to n−1 at the PM fiber.

To reduce the ghost interference peaks, an optical delay can be insertedbetween the PM fiber and the polarizer (212) to selectively cause anadditional delay in light in one of the two polarization modes of the PMfiber. FIG. 2 shows an exemplary device for measuring spatialdistribution of polarization crosstalk along a PM fiber by providing anoptical delay device between the PM fiber under test and the opticalinterferometer, where inserts further illustrate operation of thedevice. The input light (201) is split to two orthogonal sequences wavepackets after passing though the PM fiber under test (202) and the twosequences are polarized along the slow-axis and the fast-axis of the PMfiber, respectively. The delay device 210 adds an additional delay Lbetween these two orthogonal wave packet sequences, and the delay L invacuum should be longer than Δn*1 where Δn is the birefringence of thePM fiber and 1 is the length of the PM fiber and the additional delay Lis added to the light polarized along the slow axis of the PM fiber inthis example. After passing the 45 degree aligned polarizer (220), thesetwo sequences of wave packets with the additional delay L are mixedtogether with the same polarization state defined by the polarizer(220). An optical interferometer 230 is provided downstream from thepolarizer (22) to produce a serial of interference signals at delaysbetween Δn*1 and (L−Δn*1), these interference signals only correspondthe real signals caused by polarization coupling at coupling locationsand ghosts peaks are suppressed or eliminated. A processing device 240is provided to receive the output of the optical interferometer 230 andprocesses the data in the output to generate the measurements for thelocations of coupling points in the PM fiber and the magnitudes of thecoupling at the respective coupling points.

Consider a situation where there are three coupling points x1, x2 and x3along the PM fiber and the light input to the PM fiber has no fast axiscomponent and is polarized along the slow axis of the PM fiber. At eachcoupling point, light is coupled not only from the polarization modealong the slow axis to the polarization mode along the fast axis, butalso from the polarization mode along the fast axis to the polarizationmode along the slow axis. As a result of this coupling, the resultedwave packet series output by the PM fiber include wave packets caused bymultiple couplings.

After passing through the 45° oriented analyzer, the wave packetsaligned to the slow and fast axes will be mixed together. If this mixedlight is input to an interferometer, a series of interference peaks canbe observed as the delay in one arm of the interferometer is changed.Generated interference peaks represent both actual coupling points inthe PM fiber and ghost peaks which do not correspond to actual couplingpoints in the PM fiber and thus can undesirably cause errors inidentification of the actual coupling points. Ghost peaks can also besuperimposed on the real peaks, reducing the crosstalk measurementaccuracy.

In order to suppress the number and magnitude of the undesired ghostpeaks, the delay device 210 in FIG. 2 can be inserted between the PMfiber's output and the polarizer's input. This delay device ispolarization selective and can add an additional delay between the slowaxis and the fast axis of the PM fiber. Thus, the two wave packetsequences from the fast-axis and slow-axis are separated in time afterthe light passes through the analyzer. If we preset the same delayoffset between the fixed and moving arms in the interferometer, the zeroorder, second order and most higher order interference signals will notbe generated as the delay line scans; therefore, most of the ghost peaksdisappear during measurement. Consequently, the device in FIG. 2 hashigher position measurement accuracy, higher dynamic range and highersensitivity than other interferometer-based devices such as the devicein FIG. 1.

The polarization-selective optical delay device (210) in FIG. 2 can beimplemented in various configurations and can be selected based on theneeds of a particular application for the device (210) in FIG. 2. Lightin the two polarization modes of the PM fiber can be separated into twooptical signals along two separate paths by using a polarization beamsplitter and a variable optical delay mechanism can be used to cause avariable optical delay between the two separated optical signals beforerecombining the two separated signals into a combined optical signal forsubsequent processing by the downstream linear optical polarizer and theoptical interferometer. These examples can be configured as fixedoptical delay devices that produce a desired optical delay ΔL(>Δn*1where 1 is the length of PM fiber under test) or a variable delay thatcan be controlled to be at the above desired optical delay ΔL. The ghostpeaks can be suppressed by using the proper delay as shown in FIG. 2 asdescribed in U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2011/0277552 A1 under U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/780,593 entitled “Measuring distributedpolarization crosstalk in polarization maintaining bier and opticalbirefringent material” and filed on May 14, 2010, which is incorporatedby reference as part of the disclosure of this document.

Space-resolved polarization cross-talk measurements along a polarizationmaintaining (PM) fiber have various applications, including distributedstress sensing, fiber gym coil inspection, PM fiber birefringence andbeat length measurement, polarization cross-talk location identificationin a PM fiber interferometer system, and PM fiber quality inspection.Scanning Michelson white light interferometers can be used to obtainsuch distributed polarization cross-talk measurements. Unfortunately, asthe length of the fiber under test (FUT) increases, the measuredcross-talk peaks will be broadened due to birefringence dispersion,resulting in reduced spatial resolution and degraded cross-talkmeasurement accuracies for PM fibers with a length exceeding certainlengths, e.g., a few hundred meters.

The techniques provided here can be used for improving the resolutionand accuracy of distributed polarization cross-talk measurements in apolarization maintaining (PM) fiber against its birefringencedispersion. In some implementations, the broadening of measuredpolarization cross-talk peaks caused by birefringence dispersion can berestored by simply multiplying the measurement data with a compensationfunction. The birefringence dispersion variable in the function can beobtained by finding the widths of measured cross-talk envelops at knowndistances along the fiber. This technique can effectively improvespatial resolution and amplitude accuracy of the space-resolvedpolarization cross-talk measurements of long PM fibers.

In the following sections, implementations details are provided formathematically compensating the birefringence dispersion in polarizationcross-talk measurements of a PM fiber to improve the spatial resolutionand measurement accuracy. An example of the compensation function isderived to demonstrate that the effect of birefringence dispersion onpolarization-cross-talk measurements can be compensated mathematically.An exemplary white light interferometer based distributed polarizationcross-talk analyzer is described. This device was used to measure theinitial space-resolved polarization cross-talk peaks along the PM fiberand the spectral widths of the cross-talk peaks as a function of theirlocation along the fiber to obtain the birefringence dispersion AD forthe dispersion compensation function. In addition, numericalmultiplication of the compensation function with the original measuredcross-talk data is performed to eliminate the dispersion inducedbroadening of the cross-talk peaks. Experiments conducted with a PMfiber coil of 1.05 km length demonstrates that the method is effectivein improving the spatial resolution and cross-talk measurement accuracyand can be readily incorporated in the analysis software. The describedtechnology can be used in various applications, e.g., obtaining accuratepolarization cross-talk measurements of PM fiber coils with lengths oflonger than a few hundred meters and can be used to use the externallytriggered crosstalk and the measurements of such crosstalk for variousmeasurements and sensing applications

FIG. 3 shows an example of a device for measuring a PM fiber coil. Thisdevice can function as a distributed polarization crosstalk analyzer. Apolarized broadband light source 301 is coupled into one of theprincipal polarization axes of an optical birefringent medium 110. Sucha polarized broadband light source 301 can be implemented in variousconfigurations, such as a combination of a broadband light source and anoptical polarizer. In the example in FIG. 3, the polarized broadbandlight source 301 is shown as a polarized super luminescent diode source(SLED) with a short coherence length. The polarized output light 101 isdirected to be aligned with the slow axis of a PM fiber 110 at point Awhich is an input fiber connector for connecting the PM fiber coil 110.The PM fiber coil 110 terminates at the output connecter C to outputlight to an optical linear polarizer 120 which is oriented at an anglewith respect to the two principal polarization axes of the PM fiber coil110, e.g., at 45 degrees. Referring to FIG. 1B, the polarizer 120transmits part of the light output from the PM fiber coil 110 and mixesthe two orthogonal polarizations together.

The PM fiber coil 110 is an optical birefringent medium that supportstwo orthogonal polarization modes along the PM fiber slow and fastprincipal axes and the input polarization of the light 101 is alignedwith one of the principal polarization axes at the input point A, e.g.,the slow axis. The optical output signal out of the optical birefringentmedium 110 is directed the optical interferometer 230 to obtain opticalinterference of light between the two orthogonal polarization modes. Theoptical interferometer 230 produces an optical interference signal 312.A photodetector 150 is used to convert the signal 312 into a detectorsignal that carries the optical interference information. A dataacquisition device or card (DAQ) 330 is used to covert the detectorsignal into data and a processor 340, e.g., a microprocessor orcomputer, is used to receive the data and processes the obtained opticalinterference to obtain an envelope spectral function of a polarizationcrosstalk between the two orthogonal polarization modes in the opticalbirefringent medium 110. Notably, the processor 340 is programmed toapply a compensation function based on measurements of the opticalbirefringent medium 110 to the envelope spectral function to reduce aspectral broadening in the envelope spectral function caused by opticalbirefringent dispersion in the optical birefringent medium 110.

The optical interferometer 230 in FIG. 3 is a fiber-based opticalinterferometer that includes a fiber coupler 310 with four fiber ports:port 1 as the interferometer input for receiving light from thepolarizer 120, port 2 as the interferometer output port for sending outthe signal 312, port 3 for connecting to a first optical path of theinterferometer 230 and port 4 for connecting to a second optical path ofthe interferometer 230. The fiber coupler 310 splits the input lightinto a first beam to the port 3 and the first optical path and a secondbeam to the port 4 and the second optical path. The first optical pathincludes a fiber which terminates at a first Faraday mirror 321 whichrotates polarization of light by 45 degrees in one pass and thusproduces a 90-degree rotation in the polarization of the reflectedlight. Similarly, the second optical path includes a fiber whichterminates at a second Faraday mirror 321 which produces a 90-degreerotation in the polarization of the reflected light. The reflected lightbeams from both the first and second optical paths are then mixed at thefiber coupler 310 to cause interference based on the optical path lengthdifference between the first and second optical paths. This is aMichelson interferometer. A variable delay mechanism is provided tocontrol the relative delay between the two paths. For example, avariable delay element 323 is placed in the first optical path in FIG. 3to adjust and control the relative delay in response to a delay controlsignal 342 from the processor which further operates as a controldevice. In operation, the variable delay element 323 is scanned tooperate the interferometer 230 as a scanning Michelson interferometer.

Consider an example in FIG. 3 where, at point B in the PM fiber coil110, a polarization cross talk is induced by an external disturbance andsome light is coupled from the initial input polarization at point Aalong the slow axis of the PM fiber coile 110 into the fast axis of thePM fiber 110 with a coupling coefficient parameter represented by theintensity or power ratio between the two polarizations h=I₁/I₂, where I₁and I₂ are the powers in the fast and slow axes of the PM fiber 110,respectively. Because light polarized along the fast axis travels fasterthan that along the slow axis, at the output point C of the fiber 110,the faster component is ahead of the slow component by Δnz, where Δn isthe group birefringence of the PM fiber 110 and Z is the fiber lengthbetween the cross-talk point B and the fiber end at point C. Thepolarizer 120 oriented at 450 to the slow axis placed at the output ofthe fiber projects both polarization components onto the same directionto cause interference between the two components in a scanning Michelsoninterferometer 230. When the relative optical path length is scanned, aninterference peak appears when the polarization components overlap inspace and disappears when they are separated more than the coherencelength of the light source 301. The location B where the cross-talkoccurs can be calculated from z=Δz/Δn and cross-talk amplitude h can beobtained from the interference signal amplitude. FIG. 3 shows a train ofthe signals at three locations A, B and C in the PM fiber coil 110illustrating polarization components along the slow axis and the fastaxis.

The envelope of a measured cross-talk peak (the interference peak) isinfluenced by the spectral distribution of the light source 301 and thebirefringence dispersion ΔD of the PM fiber 110. Assume that the SLED301 has a Gaussian spectral shape, the cross-talk envelope (the degreeof coherence) γ can be derived as the function of birefringencedispersive ΔD and the distance Z of cross-talk point measured from theoutput:

$\begin{matrix}{{{{\gamma \left( {Z,{\Delta \; D}} \right)}} = {\frac{\sqrt{h - h^{2}}}{\left( {1 + \rho^{2}} \right)^{1/4}}\exp \left\{ {- \left\lbrack \frac{2\delta \; d}{\left( {1 + \rho^{2}} \right)^{1/2}W_{0}} \right\rbrack^{2}} \right\}}}{where}} & (10) \\{{\delta \; d} = \left( {{\Delta \; {nZ}} - d} \right)} & (11) \\{\rho = {{2\pi \; {c\left( {{\Delta\lambda}/\lambda_{0}} \right)}^{2}\Delta \; {DZ}} = {{\alpha\Delta}\; {DZ}}}} & (12) \\{{\Delta \; D} = {\frac{\tau}{\lambda} = {{- \left\lbrack {{\omega^{2}/2}\pi \; c} \right\rbrack}\left( \frac{^{2}{\Delta\beta}}{\omega^{2}} \right)_{0}}}} & (13)\end{matrix}$

In the equations above, d is the path length imbalance of the scannedMichelson interferometer, ρ is the accumulated birefringence dispersionalong the fiber, c is the speed of light in free space, Δλ and λ₀ arethe spectral width and center wavelength of the light source, Δβ is thepropagation constant difference of two polarization eigenmodes, W₀ isthe 1/e width of the interference envelope when the dispersion ρ iszero. This width is also the coherence length of the light source. Basedon Eq. (11), the parameter δd can be adjusted by varying the path lengthdifference d of the delay line in the interferometer. The interferencesignal appears when the path length imbalance d compensates for opticalpath length difference Δnz between two polarization modes. Eq.(11) toEq. (13) indicate that both the magnitude and the shape of the measuredcross-talk envelope are functions of AD and Z. The degrading effects ofbirefringence dispersion ΔD on a cross-talk measurement are thereduction of the cross-talk envelope's amplitude and the broadening itsshape as Z increases.

Notably, the effects of birefringence dispersion can be directly removedby multiplying the cross-talk measurement data with a dispersioncompensation function K(ρ):

$\begin{matrix}{{K(\rho)} = {\sqrt[4]{1 + \rho^{2}}\exp \left\{ {- \left\lbrack \frac{2\delta \; d\; \rho}{\left( {1 + \rho^{2}} \right)^{1/2}W_{0}} \right\rbrack^{2}} \right\}}} & (14)\end{matrix}$

Therefore, the original cross-talk envelope can be completely restoredby simply multiply Eq. (14) with Eq. (10):

$\begin{matrix}{{{\gamma \left( {Z,{\Delta \; D}} \right)} \cdot {K(\rho)}} = {\sqrt{h - h^{2}}{\exp \left\lbrack {- \left( \frac{2\delta \; d}{W_{0}} \right)^{2}} \right\rbrack}}} & (15)\end{matrix}$

In order to complete the compensation function, the birefringencedispersion ΔD or ρ must be obtained first. From Eq. (10) one yields therelation between envelop broadening and birefringence dispersion as:

W/W _(o)=(1+ρ²)^(1/2)=(1+(αΔD)² Z ²)^(1/2)  (16)

Therefore, in principle the birefringence dispersion ΔD can be readilycalculated by measuring the widths of cross-talk envelops at input (Z=L)and output (Z=0) ends of the PM fiber. In practice, in order to increasethe accuracy of ΔD, widths of cross-talk envelops at multiple locationsalong the PM fiber are measured and ΔD is obtained by curve-fitting toEq. (16).

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate operational processes of the device in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a process for obtaining the birefringentdispersion compensation function based on measuring spectral widths ofthe envelope spectral function of a polarization crosstalk peak at twoor more locations of the optical birefringent medium. At 410, a linearlypolarized light of a broadband spectrum is coupled into the opticalbirefringent medium in a direction along which the optical birefringentmedium supports two orthogonal polarization modes due to opticalbirefringence to produce an optical output signal out of the opticalbirefringent medium. At 420, the optical interferometer is used toprocess the optical output signal to obtain optical interference oflight between the two orthogonal polarization modes in the opticalbirefringent medium. At 430, the obtained optical interference from theoptical interferometer is processed to obtain an envelope spectralfunction of a polarization crosstalk peak due to coupling between thetwo orthogonal polarization modes in the optical birefringent medium. At440, spectral widths of the envelope spectral function of a polarizationcrosstalk peak are measured at two or more locations of the opticalbirefringent medium, e.g., the input point A and output point B in FIG.3. Step 450 is carried out to obtain the birefringent dispersion in theoptical birefringent medium from the measured spectral widths at the twoor more locations. At step 460, the obtained birefringent dispersion inthe optical birefringent medium is used to generate the compensationfunction for correcting spectral broadening caused by the birefringentdispersion.

Based on the birefringent dispersion compensation function obtained inFIG. 4, FIG. 5 shows an example of a process for measuring thepolarization crosstalk in an optical birefringent medium such as PMfiber based on applying the birefringent dispersion compensationfunction.

FIG. 6 is a measured polarization cross-talk curve of a PM fiber coilbased on FIG. 3, showing the effects of birefringence dispersion on themeasured cross-talk peaks and how the compensation removes thoseeffects. The peaks at far left and far right correspond to cross-talksinduced at output and input connectors A and C from slight fiber axismisalignment. The small peaks in between are the cross-talks induced bystresses during fiber winding process. The solid line in the rightinsert shows that birefringence dispersion causes two adverse effects:(1) broadening the envelop and (2) diminishing the amplitude of thecross-talk peak occurred at input connector A. The dotted line showsthat both the envelop and the amplitude of the cross-talk peak arerestored after dispersion compensation is performed. In particular, theenvelope width of the peak at input connector is 34.1 μm afterdispersion compensation, which is close to 32.4 μm of the left peakinduced by the output connector C with zero dispersion (Z=0).

FIG. 7A shows the measured envelope width as a function of the distanceZ. in various tests conducted by using the system shown in FIG. 3.Measurements for multiple polarization cross-talks were performed atdifferent locations along the PM fiber under test. The measurementsclearly show that the width increases quadratically with distance Z dueto the effect of birefringence dispersion. This behavior is in agreementwith Eq. (16). Under the condition of the tests with the PM fiber used,such width broadening due to birefringence dispersion starts to degradethe spatial resolution of polarization cross-talk measurements fordistance larger than about two hundred meters.

The birefringence dispersion ΔD of the PM fiber is then accuratelyobtained by the least-squares fitting the data to Eq. (16) to be 0.0014ps/(km nm). Substituting the fitting obtained values of αΔD into Eq.(14), we complete the dispersion compensation function. Multiplicationof the dispersion compensation function with the original measuredcross-talk data produces a modified cross talk data where the dependenceof polarization cross-talk on birefringence dispersion ΔD is canceled.

FIG. 7A shows an example of the envelop width of crosstalk peaks inducedby stress at various locations along a PM fiber. The squares in FIG. 7Arepresent the envelope widths after the width broadenings of thecross-talk peaks are removed from the initial measured envelope widthsrepresented by dots after the dispersion compensation is performed. FIG.7B shows exemplary measured values d crosstalk of the input connectorwith six different PM fiber lengths (5 m, 205 m, 405 m, 605 m, 805 m and1005 m). The crosstalk of the input connector is fixed and five segmentsof fibers with a length of 200 m each are sequentially spliced to thepigtail of the input connector for increased dispersion. The amplitudeof polarization cross-talk decreases with the fiber length Z due tobirefringence dispersion and is restored after performing thecompensation.

Therefore, the dispersion compensation technique can effectivelymitigate the cross-talk amplitude reduction and the line broadeningcaused by the dispersion. As such, the described compensation techniquecan be used to effectively improve the spatial resolution and accuracyof cross-talk amplitude measurements using a broadband light source(e.g., a white-light) in optical interferometer based polarizationcross-talk analyzers.

Referring back to the example of a sensor device configuration shown inFIG. 3, in one implementation, the polarized super luminescent diodesource (SLED) may be configured to have a short coherence length (e.g.,around 25 μm) and is coupled into the slow axis of a PM fiber under test(FUT) (point A). The example in FIG. 3 shows that, at another locationpoint B, a polarization crosstalk is induced by an external disturbancewhich causes some light initially polarized in the slow axis of the PMfiber to be coupled into the fast axis of the PM fiber with a couplingcoefficient parameter h=I₁/I₂, where I₁ and I₂ are the light intensitiesin the fast and slow axes of the PM fiber, respectively. Because thepolarized lights along the fast axis travel faster than that along theslow axis, at output of the fiber the faster light component will beahead of the slow component by Δz=Δnz, where Δz is an optical pathlength difference, Δn is a group birefringence of the PM fiber and Z isthe fiber length between the point where the crosstalk occurs (B) andthe output end (point C). A polarizer oriented at 45° to the slow axisof the PM FUT was placed at the end of the fiber. Polarizationcomponents from both slow and fast axes were projected onto a samedirection of the linear polarizer axis so as to produce interferencepattern between those two components in a scanning Michelsoninterferometer. When the relative optical path length is scanned, aninterference peak appears when these two polarization components areoverlapped in the space but disappears when they are separated more thana coherence length of light source (i.e. SLED). Then the location of thecrosstalk point B from exit point C can be calculated as Z=ΔZ/Δn. Ifthere are multiple polarization crosstalk points beyond the singlelocation B shown in FIG. 3, second order interference peaks will occurbecause the light in the fast axis caused from the coupling at acrosstalk point will be coupled back to the slow axis at the subsequentcrosstalk points down the fiber. Such second order couplings can causeghost crosstalk peaks and result in confusions in simple white lightinterferometers. The sensor in FIG. 3 is an example of a ghost-peak-freedistributed polarization crosstalk analyzer that uses a differentialgroup delay (Delay Device) inside the device to remove the ghostcrosstalk peaks from the second order couplings, making it possible toaccurately identify and measure a large numbers of polarizationcrosstalks along a PM fiber without ambiguity. Some aspects of thisghost-peak-free sensing operation are explained in U.S. Pat. No.8,599,385 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2013/0321818 A1of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/482,813.

Based on the features described above, the PM fiber can be embeddedinside the sensor substrate as the stress sensing element and a strainfield over the sensor can cause the polarization crosstalk in the PMfiber. The crosstalk change in the PM fiber can be used as an indicatorthat reflects a change in the external stress/strain that is exerted onthe PM fiber. The polarization crosstalk in a PM fiber tends to bemostly sensitive to transversal stress exerted on the PM fiber, and, bycomparison, is much less sensitive to the axial strain or stress.Therefore, the sensor in FIG. 3 can be used to measure the transversalstress and strain. However, in many applications, such as in structuralmonitoring, the parameters to be monitored are associated with the axialstrain or stress. The sensing techniques and devices disclosed below areconfigured to convert the axial strain or stress into a transversalstress onto the PM fiber to enable the device in FIG. 3 and other sensordevices based on the sensing mechanism in FIG. 3 to detect and monitoraxial stress or strain distributions to measure axial mechanicalparameters. For example, both the transversal pressure and axial straincan be measured with the sensor strips or sheets disclosed in thisdocument.

The sensor examples provided below include two categories of distributedsensors with two specific types for each category. The first category ofdistributed sensors is a one-dimensional (1D) sensor strip forperforming 1D strain measurements along a particular direction; and thesecond category is a two-dimensional (2D) sensor panel or sheet forperforming strain measurements over a structural surface. In developingthose sensors, tension tests were conducted to quantify the relationshipbetween crosstalk change of the sensors and applied strain and theresults showed a linear positive correlation. Thus the distributedsensors (both in 1D and 2D) based on PM fiber can be applied inmeasurements and detection of structural integrity of large structuressuch as large-scale SHM of civil infrastructures.

Examples of 1-Dimensional (1D) Distributed Fiber-Optic Strain Sensors

Four different embodiments of 1D sensor strips are disclosed asexamples. (1) The sensing PM fiber is placed in a groove on a long stripas the sensor substrate or platform with the slow or fast axis of the PMfiber aligned at 45 degrees from the surface normal of the strip. (2)Holes are provided periodically along a strip or elongated structure asthe sensor substrate on which the PM fiber is placed to go through theholes for inducing periodic crosstalk peaks with initial amplitudes.Locally stretching or compressing the strip will cause the pressureapplied to the PM fiber at the holes to change, resulting in the changein the amplitude of the initial crosstalk peak. (3) Hole pairs areplaced periodically along a strip or elongated structure and PM fiberpasses by each pair of holes to form initial periodical crosstalk peaks.As the strip is stretched or compressed longitudinally, the pressureexerting on the PM fiber at the holes will vary, causing a change in theamplitude of the crosstalk peak. (4) The PM fiber is tightly embeddedwith or along a zigzag shaped strip in a sensor strip or substrate sothat an initial crosstalk peak can be generated at each bending cornerof the zigzag shaped strip. As the strip is stretched or compressed at aparticular location, the bending induced pressure on the PM fiber closeto that location would change, causing variations in the amount ofcrosstalk. In implementing the above four 1D sensor designs, various PMfibers can be used.

FIG. 8A shows an example of a sensor strip in a 1D configuration inwhich the sensing PM fiber is placed in a groove on a long strip as thesensor substrate or platform and the slow or fast axis of the PM fiberis aligned at 45 degrees from the surface normal of the strip. Thisorientation of the polarization axis of the PM fiber ensures thepolarization crosstalk in the PM fiber be sensitive to the change of theapplied pressure as a pressure sensor. Basically, the slow or fast axisof the PM fiber is set to be around 45 degrees from the direction of thepressure. One way to achieve this desired PM fiber orientation, thesensor strip in FIG. 8A is configured to have a groove running along itslength. The sensor strip can be made with a deformable or elasticmaterial so the sensor strip can deform with a target device to whichthe sensor strip is engaged. For example, the sensor strip can be aplastic material or a material with a certain desired elasticityincluding, e.g., Nylon and Delrin materials. For the process of layingthe PM fiber on the strip with the proper orientation of itspolarization axis (the slow or fast axis), a proper method can be usedto identify the slow axis, e.g., using an optical magnifying setup toinspect the PM fiber and observing either the slow or fast axis of thePM fiber prior to laying the fiber into the groove with the correctfiber orientation. FIG. 8C shows an example of the correspondingpolarization crosstalk peaks induced at two locations Z1 and Z2 alongthe sensor strip by a pressure applied to the sensor in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8B shows another example of a sensor strip in a 1D configuration inwhich the sensing PM fiber is placed in a groove on a long strip as thesensor substrate or platform where periodic structures such as bumps ortrenches across the sensor strip are fabricated along the groove, e.g.,about every 10 cm along the strip, as fixed locations along the fiberfor applying pressure or strain on the PM fiber for inducingpredetermined crosstalk peaks at their corresponding locations. FIG. 8Dshows an example of the corresponding crosstalk peaks induced by theapplied pressure or strain in FIG. 8B. In some implementations, thecross-section of the sensor strip may be 25.4 mm wide and 0.65 mm thick.

In using the 1D sensors in FIGS. 8A and 8B, when installing or tapingthe sensor strip to a surface to be sensed, the placement of the sensorstrip on the surface can be used define the orientation of the PM fiberto make sure it has the most sensitive orientation to the appliedpressure. An adhesive can be applied into the groove to affix the fiberand a top layer adhesive can also be applied to cover the fiber andprotect from damages. An adhesive tape may be applied to once the fiberis laid into the groove for protection.

FIGS. 9A and 9B show a third example of a sensor strip in a 1Dconfiguration where the sensor strip substrate includes holes to allowthe PM fiber to be threaded through the holes to induce predeterminedpolarization crosstalk peaks. FIG. 9A shows the top view of the sensorillustrating locations of the holes along the PM fiber and FIG. 9B showsthe side view of the sensor illustrating that the PM fiber is threadedthrough the holes to have PM fiber sections to be alternatively on topand bottom opposite sides of the sensor strip substrate. Two adjacent PMfiber sections on opposite sides of the sensor strip substrate areconnected by a PM fiber section that passes through a single holelocated between the two adjacent PB fiber sections. FIG. 9C shows anexample of corresponding polarization crosstalk peaks induced by theholes and external transversal stress (at Z=Z₁) and axial strain (atZ=Z₂). In the example in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the spacing between the holesin the sensor strip substrate are equally spaced and, in otherimplementations, the spacing may vary.

In FIGS. 9A and 9B, the sensor has a single hole for each interval ofthe PM fiber on the sensor strip substrate. In this configuration, thePM fiber from the first side of the sensor strip substrate passesthrough a first hole to the second side and then goes back to the firstside after a distance (e.g., around 10 cm in some implementations) to goback via the next hole in the sensor strip substrate. The fiber bendingoccurs when the fiber passing through each hole creates a predeterminedamount of polarization crosstalk at the location of the hole. Fiberguiding grooves can be made on both sides of the sensor strip substrateto hide the fibers in the groove and adhesives or tapes can be used tocover the fiber in the groove. An important feature of this sensordesign is the sensor is sensitive to the local axial strain applied tothe sensor strip, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9C because the sensor canconvert the axial strain into transversal stress to induce thepolarization crosstalk. Likewise, when an axial compressive tension isapplied to the section of the strip, a decreased polarization crosstalkwill appear at the location of the fiber bend. This sensor is stillsensitive to the transversal pressure applied to the strip, as in thefirst two sensor designs in FIGS. 8A and 8B.

FIGS. 10A and 10B show the top view and side view of a sensor stripdevice having multiple pairs of holes for holding the PM fiber with onepair of holes per sensing PM section in a 1D configuration. In oneimplementation, the multiple pairs of holes are formed as through holesin the sensor strip substrate (e.g., by drilling or other methods), andthe bare PM fiber passes up and down through each pair of two holes toinitialize crosstalk, as shown in FIG. 10B. The spacing between twoadjacent holes in a hole pair is small while two adjacent pairs of holesis much greater as shown so that the PM fiber sections in FIGS. 10A and10B are primarily on one side of the sensor strip substrate while havingonly small PM fiber portions on the opposite side at in the spacebetween two adjacent holes of each hole pair. This is different fromFIGS. 9A and 9B where the PM sections are alternatively placed on thetwo opposite sides of the sensor strip substrate. The materials of thesensor substrate may be deformable or elastic materials such as Nylonand Delrin materials or any other types of material with certainelasticity.

In some implementations, the cross-section of the sensor strip may be25.4 mm wide and 0.65 mm thick. For example, the holes with a desireddiameter (e.g., 300 micrometer) may be drilled through the substratewith an inclined angle with respect to the sensor substrate, e.g., 45degrees or other angles. A pair of closely spaced holes (e.g., 1 mm to 1cm spacing in some implementations) are created to allow the PM fiberfrom the first side of the strip to go to the second side through thefirst hole and then come back to the first side through the second hole,as shown in FIG. 10B. The fiber bending occurs at the location where thePM fiber goes through the two holes, which will create an initialpolarization crosstalk. The spacing between two adjacent pairs of holesis set at a desired space, e.g., a 10 cm interval. A groove can beformed or carved on the substrate between pairs of holes to guide the PMfiber from one pair to another. As a specific example, choosing the 10cm interval is in consideration of the 6 cm spatial resolution of theDPXA interrogator. Other intervals can be chosen for differentapplications. A layer of an adhesive tape or adhesive can be attached tothe surface of the strip to cover the fiber and protect it frompotential damages.

FIG. 11 shows a sensor strip with a zigzag fiber path for sensing. Inthis design, a zigzag path is formed in the sensor strip substrate andthe bare PM fiber is embedded with or placed in the zigzag path. Thesensor substrate materials can be Nylon, Delrin, or any other materialwith certain elasticity and certain mechanical properties, e.g. Young'smodulus. An exemplary cross-section of the sensor strip is 25.4 mm wideand 0.65 mm thick. The bending of the PM fiber around the corner of thezigzag path can cause polarization crosstalk at the corners of thebends, creating a series polarization crosstalk peaks of certainmagnitudes. When an axial stretching strain is applied to a section ofthe strip, the tension is generated along the fiber and increases thestress on the corner of the PM fiber around the fiber bend, resulting inan increase in the polarization crosstalk. Likewise, when an axialcompressive tension is applied to the section of the strip, a decreasedpolarization crosstalk will appear at the location of the fiber bend.

In one implementation of the sensor design in FIG. 11, a groove can becarved on one side of the strip, with a width and depth comparable tothe fiber diameter, for example with a width of 300 microns and a depthof 300 microns for a PM fiber with a diameter of 250 microns. The grooveis carved in a zigzag shape and changed direction after every 10 cmdistance interval (or other numbers). A thin layer of silicon adhesiveor other types of coating can be applied along the groove to guide thedirection of bare fiber. Immediately after the first layer of siliconglue is applied, bare PM fiber is embedded into the groove withpretension to make it straight. A second layer of glue is later appliedto cover the fiber afterwards and adhesive tapes can be further toassure a good bonding of the glued fiber to the sensor strip. Specialattention should be paid to the transition corners, where initialcrosstalk peaks would occur and change significantly under applied localstrain, so that the fiber don't come out due to micro bending at thecorner. After the glue is cured, previous adhesive tapes are removed andanother layer of adhesive tapes can be applied to cover the whole sensorsurface for protection purpose. When laying the PM fiber in the groove,the slow or fast axis of the PM fiber can oriented 45 degrees from thesurface normal of the strip to provide the maximum measurementsensitivity.

In operation, when the strip is stretched longitudinally along the stripat certain locations, a pressure is exerted on the PM fiber at thecorresponding corners, increasing the amount of polarization crosstalkinitially generated by the corners. Likewise, when the strip iscompressed longitudinally, the crosstalk at the corner affected by thecompression can be reduced. The strip can be pre-calibrated with a knownapplied weight/strain so that the amount of crosstalk increase ordecrease can be related to certain strain applied. Therefore, bymeasuring the polarization crosstalk changes, the local strains appliedon the strip can be measured. When the strip is affixed to a structure,such as a bridge, any local strains will be transferred to the strip toaffect the polarization crosstalk at the locations of the strain.

Examples of 2-Dimensional (2D) Distributed Fiber-Optic Strain Sensors

The sensing mechanism for the above 1D sensor strips can be extended tothe 2D sensor panels where PM fiber sections are arranged in a twodimensional array or matrix. Five examples of 2D sensor panels aredisclosed: (1) 2D stress sensing panel/sheet without predeterminedcrosstalk marks; (2) 2D stress sensing panel/sheet with bumps ortrenches for inducing predetermined polarization crosstalk marks; (3) 2Dtransversal stress and horizontal strain sensing panel/sheet withpredetermined crosstalk inducing holes; (4) 2D sensing panel with PMfiber embedded with zigzag routes; and (5) 2D sensor panel/sheet with PMfiber embedded with triangle shape on both sides of the sensor panel andtheir orientations are perpendicular to each other.

FIGS. 12A and 12B show an example of a 2D pressure sensor panel withoutpolarization crosstalk marks. In this example, the fiber PM fiber isrouted on a plane panel or sheet in a pattern shown in FIG. 12A. Thesensor panel is designed for sensing pressure or transversal stress andthe slow or fast axis of the PM fiber is oriented 45 degrees from thesurface normal of the panel. The stress can be shown as a function ofdistance Z, as shown in FIG. 12B. Alternatively the stress/polarizationcrosstalk information can be shown in a 2D plot as shown in FIG. 12C,with the amount of stress represented by the color. a 3D plot with X, Yand stress/polarization crosstalk as the coordinates. The crosstalk canbe calibrated with a known pressure or weight to convert the crosstalkvalue into pressure or tress value.

FIG. 13A shows an example of a 2D sensor panel with predeterminedpolarization crosstalk marks. The panel includes multiple bumps ordrenches to induce predetermined amount of polarization crosstalk peakswhenever the fiber passing over the bumps or drenches. These pre-loadedpolarization crosstalk peaks act as location markers, as shown in FIG.13B, where the polarization crosstalk is a function of position Z isplotted. The induced polarization crosstalk peaks by external pressureor stress are also shown in FIG. 13B, and can be presented in the XYplot in FIG. 13C. a 3D plot can also be created to show the amount ofstress/crosstalk with the 3rd axis. Calibration with known pressure orweights can be performed to convert the crosstalk value into pressure orstress value in the figures.

FIG. 14A shows another example of the sensor panel with holes forinducing predetermined polarization crosstalk marks for measuringtransversal stress and horizontal strain on the sensing panel.

Similar to the hole design in the 1D sensor in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the holedesign is used in FIG. 14A so that the PM fiber is threaded through theholes to 1) induce predetermined crosstalk peaks, and 2) convert localhorizontal strains into vertical stress. In FIG. 14A, the strains inboth X (at Z1) and Y (at Z2) directions can induce polarizationcrosstalks at the places where the local strain is applied. The stresscan also induce crosstalk, as shown in FIG. 14A at the location, Z=Z3.FIGS. 14B and 14C show examples of the stress measurements. A 3D plotcan also be used to present the data where X and Y represent thepositions/locations of the stress/strain and the vertical axisrepresents the crosstalk/stress value.

FIGS. 15A and 15B show an example of a 2D PM fiber sensor with zigzagshape PM fiber paths on one side of the sensor panel. Inimplementations, the sensor panel can be made of a deformable or elasticmaterial, e.g., polystyrene, PVDF and others. For example, the panel mayhave a thickness of 0.65 mm in some implementations. Similar to thezigzag design in the 1D sensor strip, the sensor in FIGS. 15A and 15Bincludes zigzag grooves on one side of the panel for holding the PMfibers and may be, 300 micrometer wide and 300 micrometer deep is carvedon one side of the panel. The groove may orientated in a 90-degreezigzag shape over the sensor panel. The distance between two corners maybe set to 8 cm, for example. The bare PM fiber is guided along thegroove with silicon glue. A protective layer of tape can be used tocover the embedded fiber. Such a 2D sensor panel is sensitive to localstrain changes and can be used to detect or identify local strain fieldchange in both X and Y directions in the plane of the panel. Themeasured data can be presented as in FIGS. 14B and 14C, or in 3D format.

FIG. 16A shows an example of a 2D PM fiber sensor have zigzag fiberpaths on two sides of the panel and the PM fiber path on one side at alocation is substantially perpendicular to the PM fiber path at the samelocation on the other side of the pane.

In the illustrated example, the long triangle shape grooves are carvedon both sides of the panel, with perpendicular orientation to eachother. The bare PM fiber is glued along the groove from one end to theother end on one side of the panel, and turned over to glue on thebackside of the panel. The fiber is embedded inside the groove andprotected. For example, the width of each big triangle may 8 cm and theheight may be 24 cm. Since the orientation (as well as the tip) of thetriangles on one side is orthogonal to that of the other side, this typeof 2D senor panel is sensitive to changes in the stress or strain on thepanel and is capable to identify the orientation of applied strain.

Measurements are conducted to correlate the crosstalk change with thestrain value applied to the 2D sensor panel. FIG. 17 shows an example ofa quantitative test setup to allow for applying a tension force in anydirection within the sensor plane. In conducted measurements, thetension force was applied through a rope where one end of the rope wasconnected to the sensor body with a small piece of plate, and the otherend was connected to a basket that could hold weights. There was apulley in between to guide the rope. As a result, the tension forcecould be calculated with the number of known weights we used.

Assuming strain is uniformly distributed over the whole sensor body, itcan then be derived with the following formula: strain=(M*g)/(E*A). M isthe weight in kilogram, g is the gravity acceleration (g=9.8 m/s²), E isthe material's Young's modulus (E=2.83 GPa in this case), and A is thearea of the cross-section (e.g. A=20.828 mm² for the strip sensor). Theweights were added with a 0.5 kg increment, and the correspondingcrosstalk was measured by the DPXA after every step.

FIG. 18 shows an example for the measured relationship between crosstalkchange and applied tension strain. The measurements show that the changeof crosstalk has a positively linear relationship with the strain valuein the sensor. This relationship enable measuring strain from thecrosstalk change in the PM sensors. Therefore, with the DPXA as aninterrogator, the novel distributed 1D sensor strip sensors and 2Dsensor panels can be used in various applications, including inlarge-scale structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure. Thedisclosed PM fiber sensors can be configured to provide distributed 1Dand 2D measurements, to cover large monitoring area of structures andprovide highly precise measurements r with a high spatial resolution(e.g., around 6 cm).

While this document contains many specific implementation details, theseshould not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention orof what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specificto particular embodiments of the invention. Certain features that aredescribed in this document in the context of separate embodiments canalso be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely,various features that are described in the context of a singleembodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately orin any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may bedescribed above as acting in certain combinations and even initiallyclaimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can insome cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combinationmay be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments.

Thus, particular implementations are disclosed. Variations,modifications and enhancements of the disclosed implementations andother implementations can be made based on what is described andillustrated in this document.

What is claimed is:
 1. An optical fiber sensor device, comprising: asensor plate formed of a deformable or elastic material; a length ofpolarization maintaining (PM) fiber as a sensing element and engaged tothe sensor plate at multiple engaging locations; an optical light sourcethat produces probe light and is coupled to the PM fiber to deliver theprobe light into the PM fiber; and a detector module coupled to receiveprobe light from the PM fiber and to measure the received probe light todetermine a stress exerted on the sensor plate.
 2. The device as inclaim 1, wherein the PM fiber is engaged to the sensor plate at multipleengaging locations in a linear array on the sensor plate.
 3. The deviceas in claim 1, wherein the PM fiber is engaged to the sensor plate atmultiple engaging locations that are arranged in a 1 dimensional arrayon the sensor plate.
 4. The device as in claim 1, wherein the PM fiberis engaged to the sensor plate at multiple engaging locations that arearranged in a 2 dimensional array on the sensor plate.
 5. The device asin claim 1, wherein the engaging locations include through holes in thesensor plate.
 6. The device as in claim 1, wherein the detector moduleincludes: an optical interferometer located to receive the probe lightfrom the PM fiber and structured to obtain optical interference of lightbetween the two orthogonal polarization modes in the received probelight; an optical detector to detect the optical interference to producea detector output that carries information on a distribution of stressor strain exerted on the sensor plate.
 7. The device as in claim 1,wherein: the sensor plate includes holes at multiple engaging locations;and the PM fiber is threaded through the holes to have PM fiber sectionson two opposite sides of the sensor plate.
 8. The device as in claim 1,wherein: the sensor plate includes pairs of holes at different locationsalong a line, each pair of holes includes two holes that are spaced fromeach other at a spacing less than a spacing the pairs of holes; and thePM fiber is threaded through pairs of the holes to engage to the sensorplate.
 9. The device as in claim 1, wherein: the PM fiber is engaged tothe sensor plate to form a zigzag pattern.
 10. The device as in claim 1,wherein the sensor plate include bumps or trenches in contact with thePM fiber as the engaging locations.
 11. The device as in claim 1,wherein the sensor plate is affixed on an object for sensing thespace-resolved strain on the object.
 12. An optical fiber sensor device,comprising: a sensor plate configured to include a 1-demensional arrayof holes; a length of polarization maintaining (PM) fiber engaged to thesensor plate by being threaded through the holes to form sensinglocations at the holes; an optical light source that produces probelight and is coupled to the PM fiber to deliver the probe light into thePM fiber; and a detector module coupled to receive probe light from thePM fiber and to measure the received probe light to determine a stressexerted on the sensor plate.
 13. The device as in claim 12, wherein apolarization axis of the PM fiber is oriented to be at 45 degrees to anormal direction of the sensor plate.
 14. The device as in claim 12,wherein the sensor plate includes a groove in which the PM fiber isplaced.
 15. The device as in claim 12, wherein the sensor plate isformed of a deformable or elastic material.
 16. The device as in claim12, wherein the sensor plate is affixed on an object for sensing aspatial strain or stress distribution on the object.
 17. An opticalfiber sensor device, comprising: a sensor plate configured to include agroove in a 2-dimensional pattern on one side; a length of polarizationmaintaining (PM) fiber engaged to the sensor plate by being placed inthe groove to form a 2-dimensional PM fiber sensing element; an opticallight source that produces probe light and is coupled to the PM fiber todeliver the probe light into the PM fiber; and a detector module coupledto receive probe light from the PM fiber and to measure the receivedprobe light to determine a stress exerted on the sensor plate.
 18. Thedevice as in claim 17, wherein the sensor plate is a deformable orelastic.
 19. The device as in claim 17, the sensor plate includes holesin the groove in the 2-dimensional pattern through which the PM fiber isthreaded.
 20. The device as in claim 17, wherein a polarization axis ofthe PM fiber is oriented to be at 45 degrees to a normal direction ofthe sensor plate.
 21. The device as in claim 17, wherein the sensorplate further includes a second groove in a 2-dimensional pattern on theother side of the sensor plate; and a second length of polarizationmaintaining (PM) fiber engaged to the second groove.
 22. The device inclaim 17, wherein the second length of PM fiber and the length of PMfiber are perpendicular to one another at selected locations.
 23. Thedevice as in claim 17, wherein the sensor plate is affixed on an objectfor sensing a 2-dimensional spatial stress or strain distribution on theobject.